The Anglo-Saxon Fyrd
878-1066 AD

Two young boys learning the skills of warfare
outside the walls of the Burh

The Kingdom of England was forged in the furnace of Viking invasions. Quite
simply, the depredations of the Danes aided Wessex by extinguishing all other
royal lineages. By 900A.D. only the those of Cerdic remained, and the kings
of this dynasty found that their survival depended on a total reorganisation
of their realm, both administratively and militarily.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 871 gives us a good idea of the nature
of the military system that Alfred inherited from his father and brothers. After
describing six battles, the annals conclude with the observation that 'during
that year nine general engagements were fought against the Danish army in the
kingdom south of the Thames, besides the expeditions which the king's brother
Alfred and single ealdormen and king's thegns often rode on, which were not
counted.' From this, and other sources, it would seem that the West Saxon
military establishment consisted of three general types of army: the national
host, shire forces led by individual ealdormen, and the war bands of individual
thegns. The first of these is sometimes referred to as the folc, and
was characterised by the personal leadership of the king. It would consist of
the king with his own personal war-band, augmented by the war-bands of his ealdormen
and thegns.

However, each of these territorial units was an army in itself. An eighth or
ninth century ealdorman could wage war on his own initiative and was
expected to do so in defence of his scir. Just as the national host
was made up of shire forces, so the shire forces were made up of the followings
of individual local thegns. These thegns, in turn could mount
raids of their own, but the sources unsurprisingly take little note of these
small war-bands. None of these forces, not even the folc, was the 'nation
in arms.' All were war-bands led by chieftains, whose troops were bound to them
by personal ties as well as by the 'common burdens' imposed upon their land.
In essence, they still remained the king's following arrayed for battle.

Despite the lordship tie, Alfred's difficulties in 878 were due in no small
part to his dependence upon the 'common burdens' for the defence of the kingdom.
The growing importance of bookland aggravated certain problems previously encountered
in connection with the earlier landholding gesiðas. Quite simply it took
time to summon and gather warriors from the various localities, and a highly
mobile raiding force could devastate a region before the king's host could engage
it in battle. Added to this was a second drawback. Those who held bookland were
territorial lords with local interests, and were thus far more likely to seek
terms with the Danish invaders, if by their timely submission they could save
all or part of their inheritance.

After his victory at Edington in the spring of 878, Alfred realised he could
not rely upon the existing military system to counter the continuing Danish
threat. If he were to survive and consolidate his hold upon Wessex, he would
have to innovate, and this he did. The king's adoption of Danish tactics in
the winter of 878, such as his use of strongholds and small mobile raiding parties
to harry the lands of his enemies, was forced upon him by immediate circumstances.
Over the next twenty years of his reign, he was to revolutionise Anglo-Saxon
military practice. Alfred answered the Danish threat by creating an impressive
system of fortified burhs [boroughs] throughout his realm and by reforming
the fyrd, changing it from a sporadic levy of king's men and their retinues
into a standing force. This system, and its extension into Mercia, enabled his
kingdom to survive and formed the basis for the reconquest of the Danelaw by
his son Edward and his grandson Æþelstan. He divided the fyrd into two
rotating contingents designed to give some continuity to military actions. Rather
than respond to Vikings with ad hoc levies of his local noblemen which were
disbanded when the crisis had passed, the West Saxons would now always have
a force in the field. As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tell us: 'The king divided
his army into two, so that always half of its men were at home, half on service,
apart from the men who guarded the boroughs.' Moreover, like the Danish
heres [armies], Alfred's fyrd was to be composed of mounted warriors
possessing the necessary mobility to pursue an enemy known for its elusiveness.
The warriors who waited their turn 'at home' also filled a necessary defensive
function. It was essential that some king's thegns and their retainers
remain behind to guard their lands and those of their neighbours on campaign
against sudden raids, if for no other reason than the obvious one that landholders
would have been reluctant to leave their estates and families totally undefended.
The warriors who stayed behind do appear to have been obliged to join the garrisons
of nearby burhs on local forays.

Some of the local Fyrd in training outside the new stone walls of the Burh

Alfred also had compelling administrative reasons for his division of the fyrd.
The Anglo-Saxons did not draw much distinction between 'military' and 'police'
actions. The same men who led the king's hosts, his thegns, gerefa [reeves]
and ealdormen, also did justice. The same mounted men who were responsible
for the capture of lawbreakers were also responsible for the defence of the
kingdom - there was a thin line between posse and army! After all, the Danish
invasions did not end ordinary criminal activity, in fact there is some evidence
to suggest it may have increased.

Alfred's innovations did not affect the basic makeup of the fyrd, which
remained composed of nobles and their lesser-born followers. This is borne out
from many sources; ordinary ceorls would generally be unable to afford
the expensive horse required for fyrd service, the summoning of the fyrd
left ordinary agricultural activities such as harvest unaffected, and not least,
Alfred's own words. For Alfred society was divided three ways; beadsmen (
gebedmen) prayed, warriors ( fyrdmen) fought and workmen ( weorcmen)
laboured, each a necessary, distinct class. This idea was reiterated by several
later writers.

The Alfredian fyrd was designed to act in tandem with the burwaran,
the permanent garrisons that the king settled in the newly built burhs.
The size of the garrison in each burh varied according to the length
of its walls (4 men for every 51/2 yards), but an average one would have required
a garrison of about 900 men. Because of this vast requirement for manpower,
each burh was at the centre of a large district specially created for
its needs. The landholders in these 'burghal districts' were charged with providing
the men necessary to maintain and garrison the burhs, on the basis of
one man from every hide of their land. This appears to be in addition to the
landowner's obligations to serve in the king's fyrd.

The scale of service demanded by Alfred and his descendants was unprecedented,
the garrisons of the burhs alone represented a standing army of almost
30,000 without the fyrd.These figures suprisingly do
not include the military strength of the navy that Alfred raised to counter
the Danish threat either. The days of winning kingdoms with only a few hundred
men were gone.

How Alfred's fyrdmen were equipped is uncertain, although spears and
shields still remained the prime weapons. It may well be that this was all the
equipment the average burwaran would use, possibly supplied to him by
his lord. The fyrdmen, on the other hand were a professional warrior
class, drawn from amongst the wealthiest men in the country, expecting to face
a well equipped, professional enemy army. The evidence we have suggests that
helmets, swords and mailshirts had become much more common by the time of Alfred's
reforms, and most of the fyrd would have been equipped with at least
a helm and sword in addition to their spear, shield and horse. Many would also
have possessed a mailshirt. Some of the more well off burwaran may also
have been equipped in a similar way to the fyrd.

The innovations that Alfred introduced meant that within twenty years of his
death, most of the Danelaw had been reconquered by the West Saxon kings and
their Mercian allies. By the middle of the tenth century the last Danish king
had been driven out of England and the West Saxon line now ruled the whole country.

In the decades that followed, although the parts of Alfred's and Edward's system
remained, the function of each had been redefined during a generation of peace.
The fyrd reverted to its former incarnation as an ad hoc levy of noblemen
and their retainers, summoned to meet a crisis, a far less expensive system
than maintaining a standing army. The garrisons of the burhs were disbanded,
and the burhs now stood merely as places of refuge for the civilian population.
As such they failed to stem the Viking invasions which recommenced at the end
of the tenth century. Burh after burh was stormed and burned by
the invaders. Although some attempt was made to refortify some of the old burhs,
it did little good without the integrated system of permanent standing army
and permanent garrisons envisioned by Alfred.

The vulnerability of the burhs, brought home by these disasters, led
Æþelred to bolster their naval forces in the hopes of preventing the Danes
from landing. He required every three hundred (or three hundred and ten) hides
of land to build and maintain a ship with a crew of 60 men, thus extending the
'common burdens' to naval matters. The system of 'hundreds' was also refined
in the tenth century as both a military and administrative district, headed
by a 'hundred ealdor' who was the district's leader in peace and war, and who
was responsible to the king's reeve or ealdorman. Also at this time,
the kings' law codes placed royal authority on a more secure footing by equating
it with lordship. These codes also made it easier for the king to exact the
'common burdens' and punishing those who were reluctant to fulfil their obligations
as land-holders. They also made the king once more the lord of all 'fyrd-worthy'
men, making the fyrd once more the king's retinue arrayed for battle,
but with a great difference: fyrd service for many was now a condition
of tenure.

In the late tenth and eleventh century the system was further refined, at first
under Æþelred and later under Cnut. Fyrd service was directly related
to the amount of land held. The figure of one warrior from every five hides
is often given, and on average this may well be the case, but the exact amount
of land a man should possess to be required to provide a warrior varied a great
deal. It seems that each landowner made his own arrangements with the king in
respect of service, sometimes a man holding only a hide or two was expected
to provide a warrior, sometimes an estate of well over five hides might only
expect to supply one warrior. Five hides of land is the usual figure associated
with a thegn at this time, although some thegns held much larger
estates, and some of the poor thegns are recorded as having estates on
only one or two hides. However, possession of five hides did not automatically
gain one the status of a thegn. The coincidence of the five hide ruling
with reference to both military service and the rank of thegn shows that
it was predominantly those of thegnly rank who were expected to serve in the
fyrd, the possession of the land putting the obligation on the man. It
would usually be the land-owner themselves who served in the fyrd, but
if for some reason the landowner was unable to attend in person, perhaps because
they were a woman land-holder or infirm, they could send a replacement in their
stead who was 'acceptable' to the king, or commute the service with payment.
This payment would then be used to hire a 'mercenary' replacement.

If an estate was expected to supply more than one warrior, the lord of the
estate would have to recruit from amongst his tenants. He might have lesser
thegns in his service, in which case these would probably serve, but
often the warriors must have been drawn from amongst the upper class of the
ceorls, the geneatas. Often smaller estates were grouped together
in units of approximately five hides, and this group was expected to send one
of their number for fyrd service. It seems that at this time fyrd
service was performed in two month periods, but it is unclear how many times
a year the king could call upon this service. What is clear is that the warrior
sent was given money for his own maintenance from the lands he was serving.
This payment was, on average, twenty shillings for each two month period - a
figure equivalent to the pay of many post conquest knights! This high 'rate
of pay' further argues for the professional nature of the late Saxon fyrdman.
Although, in theory, the relationship between the warrior and the king was still
that of commended man to his lord seen in Tacitus' writings, many laws were
issued to make the relationship binding. Two of the best examples of these come
from the laws of king Cnut:

77. Concerning the man who deserts his lord. And the man who, through cowardice,
deserts his lord or his comrades on a military expedition, either by sea or
by land, shall lose all that he possesses and his own life, and the lord shall
take back the property and the land which he had given him.
And if he has book-land it shall pass into the king's hand.

78. Concerning the man who falls before his lord. And the heriot [death
duty paid in arms and armour] of the man who falls before his lord on campaign,
whether within the country or abroad, shall be remitted, and the heirs shall
succeed to his land and his property and make a very just division of the
same.

Despite such legislation, it seems the lordship bond was still quite strong,
since even in the late tenth- and eleventh-century we still find many references
to the lord and his hearþweru. The most notable example of this is in
the poem the Battle of Maldon:

'So Æþelred's earl, the lord of those people, fell; all his hearth-companions
[hearþweru] could see for themselves that their lord lay low. Then the
proud thegns went forth there, the brave men hastened eagerly: they all wished,
then, for one of two things - to avenge their lord or to leave this world.'

In addition to the warriors owing service in respect of their land, the eleventh
century fyrd contained other types of warriors. A more ancient element
within the fyrd, the king's personal entourage, retained its importance
throughout the period. The huscarles of Cnut and the later Saxon kings
represented the last elements of the earlier class of gesiðas. They formed
a group of professional warriors in the direct service of the king, living in
his hall and receiving gifts from the king in return for their service. They
accompanied the king on journeys, served as ministers in peacetime and formed
his bodyguard and the backbone of his royal host in times of war. Although often
seen as mercenaries, because they received payment from the king, their service
arose from the obligation to serve their lord rather than just a cash inducement.
The body of royal huscarles is said to have numbered 3,000 by 1066, and
it seems that by this date many of the other great lords also had their own
huscarles, sometimes numbering into the hundreds.

That mercenaries were also used is beyond doubt, the butescarles and
lithsmen of this period are just that - warriors who fought for hard
cash. Many of these men were probably employed in respect of lands who had commuted
their military obligation for cash, although others were employed entirely in
their own right.

Although the reasons for service, and the professionalism of the warriors involved
had changed, even at the Battle of Hastings, in essence the fyrd still
consisted of the king's host arrayed for battle, supported by their own retainers,
much as the armies of the earlier Germanic invaders had been, but on a much
more massive, professional and well organised way.

By the second half of the tenth century, and throughout the eleventh, the Anglo-Saxon
fyrd was more than just a king's host arrayed for war, it was a well
equipped professional army of heavy infantry. Although the spear and shield
still remained the basic weapon of the fyrdman, it was now usual for
all to have a horse, sword, helmet and mailshirt too. Some illustrations suggest
that hand-axes were also used, but whether in addition to, or in place of, the
sword is unclear. There are many references to even ceorls serving in the fyrd
possessing swords, and that mailshirts and helms would have been widespread
is shown by the fact that Æþelred commanded that every eight hides provide
a helmet and byrnie. In addition, the heriot, that is the death
duty paid to a lord when a thegn died, was set at four horses (two with
saddles), two swords and a coat of mail. Since the heriot represented
the return of the gifts of a lord to his retainer, we can see that this was
the equipment a thegn would be expected to possess. That the thegns
did possess this equipment is borne out by the fact that, although it was possible
to commute this payment to cash, the payment was almost always made in the form
of these arms. The reason for the large number of horses may be explained by
the fact that it represented a mount and remount or pack-horse for the thegn
and a retainer who would look after the thegn's horse while he was in
battle, or carry messages for him, etc..

It appears that generally the huscarles were even more heavily equipped
than the thegns. In addition to the equipment associated with a normal
fyrdman, at least at the time of Cnut they were expected to own 'splendid
armour,' including a double-edged sword with a gold inlaid hilt and a 'massive
and bloodthirsty two-handed axe,' this latter weapon having been introduced
into England in the course of the Viking attacks at the end of the tenth century.

Of the equipment of the butescarles and lithsmen we know little,
but presumably, if they were being used to replace members of the fyrd
their equipment must have been at least of the same type and quality as a fyrdman's.

Finally, it should not be forgotten that the king's right to call upon 'every
able bodied man' for military service was never forgotten. Right up until the
time of Harold Godwinson the king retained that right. However, just because
the king had the right did not mean he exercised it. The duty to serve was confined
to the shire boundaries and for a single day, otherwise the service had to be
paid, except in the Welsh and Scottish Marches, where 15 days seems to have
been the norm. It is useful to note that when this levy was called out, as in
1006, the term 'the whole of the people' is used rather than the more military
term fyrd. As time went by and armies became more and more professional
and better and better equipped, a 'peasant levy' of untrained men equipped with
hunting spears, and perhaps if they were lucky, a shield loaned to them by their
lord, became less and less use. If men such as this were called upon (and it
would be rare for this to happen), they would not be expected to get involved
in the thick of the fighting. Rather, they would get jobs such as holding the
fyrd's horses, guarding the baggage train, ferrying supplies of javelins
and water to the fyrdmen, tending to the wounded, carrying messages,
defending burhs, etc.. After all how much use is an untrained, unarmoured
farmer going to be against a well equipped, well trained professional warrior
who's been learning his deadly trade from the first time he was able to pick
up a weapon?

Main References

Lordship and Military Obligation in Anglo-Saxon England, by Richard P.
Abels.